John Pacifico

Mr. Pacifico earned an MBA from Columbia University and a BS in Finance from the Charles F. Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University where he was also a member of the varsity baseball team. 

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In 2007, John co-authored, with Seth Rudnick, MD, a chapter titled "Driving Successful Venture Capital Investments" in a book on biotechnology VC best practices, published by Aspatore Books. In addition, John was selected to the Directorship of NYPEN, the New York Private Equity Network, where he helps organize education events and networking opportunities for tri-state area venture capital professionals.

Mr. Pacifico led the formation of Abyrx and serves as the Company's founding President and Chief Executive Officer. Previously, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of ORTHOCON, Inc., a biosurgical products company he helped launch in 2006 as member of its founding investment team. Mr. Pacifico joined ORTHOCON in 2007 to lead the Company's corporate development and finance functions. As Vice President of Corporate Development, he led ORTHOCON's $25 million Series B financing and expanded both its technology rights and its intellectual property portfolio. In addition, Mr. Pacifico was responsible for the early strategic decisions regarding the company's transition to a commercial organization and, in 2009, was appointed Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations. In this capacity, Mr. Pacifico was responsible for the commercial launch of HEMASORB, the company's first FDA-cleared product, and the identification and prioritization of ORTHOCON's pipeline products.

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Mr. Pacifico brings to Abyrx a strong company building background. He gained this experience as a company operator and former member of the healthcare venture capital investment team at Canaan Partners where he participated in over 25 biopharmaceutical and medical device company financings, initial public offerings, and acquisitions. Mr. Pacifico joined Canaan at age twenty and had the unique opportunity to be mentored by some of the world's leading venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

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As a company leader and investor, he worked with private and public company management teams that developed and brought to market several leading therapeutic drugs and medical devices, and created over $2 billion of company value. He is also the creator and Founder of Kairuku, Inc., a healthcare technology company that is changing the way medical products are delivered to the point-of-care, where he serves as Chairman of the Board.

John is a member of Kauffman Fellows Class 12 and was mentored by Brent Ahrens (Class 5) and Dr. Stephen Bloch (Class 7) at Canaan Partners.